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Ramanujam Sridhar

Andrew Flintoff made all the difference between the England and the Australian cricket sides. Now, where are the Flintoffs of the advertising business?

INSTEAD of sticking to decisions, as the third umpire must do, I made a prediction that Australia would retain the Ashes, in this very column and must now eat humble pie. The ancient Tamil proverb "Either stand in the sun or in the rain but never in the shade" is the guiding philosophy that seems to get me into trouble more often than not. But back to cricket. What was the difference between the two sides? Was it Vaughan's ability to call correctly? Were Trescothick and Strauss the difference? Was reverse swing the difference? Was it Duncan Fletcher's plotting? Or Billy Bowden's crooked finger? The difference, I believe, was fiery Andrew `Fred' Flintoff, who, to my mind, has the potential to overshadow Beefy Botham. It was this all-around ability of Flintoff which made all the difference between England and Australia and marginalised Gilchrist whose similar ability, all too often, has been the difference between Australia and other world sides. This all-round skill is very often the difference between success and failure. And if an advertising industry has to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix (even if things aren't all that bad) then it must take a long hard look at itself, the way it has been functioning, the people who are running the agency business and their skills or lack of it.

The ad industry over the ages

The advertising industry is as old as the hills. Not for nothing has it been called the `second oldest profession.' There have been lots of changes in the advertising business from the days of pioneering advertising executive Albert Davis Lasker. Agencies have moved from commission to retainer. The full-service agency has been unbundled. Stand-alone media houses are here to stay. Negotiation on media rates has achieved alarming proportions. Design houses that specialise in brand identity have made their presence felt. Packaging specialists are a force to reckon with: on supermarket shelves, in consumers' lives, and if one may add, a strong influence on their wallets as well! The 30-second TV commercial, which was the bread and butter of the agency business, has shrunk. In India, it has spiralled down to an average of a 16-second duration though the business of TV advertising has grown to 200 million seconds per year.

Direct response, which rules the roost in Western markets, is making its way here, thanks to the emergence of retail, financial services et al. Seventy-five million Internet and mobile phone users in the country is the phenomenal number that's waiting to be communicated to, intelligently. And so we come to the obvious question. The industry is changing, the media is changing, the consumer is changing, the skill sets required are changing and the agency, despite all these demands on it, has not re-engineered itself to the extent it has to.

So what exactly is an ad `agency?'

An agency is in the business of creating ideas. Ideas that solve problems; ideas that build brands and businesses. And who is behind the agency's ideas? It's people; the quality of its people. And this is what sets one agency apart from another. "You are only as good as your current campaign" translated correctly reads thus: "You are only as good as your current team." The assets of any agency are its people. What else do agencies own other than a few computers? God knows they can't afford to own real estate! But what about the people? How superior are they in their skill sets to their counterparts of the early 20th century?

You still have account men and women, whatever you wish to call them. They still breathe, talk and dream their clients' business. Today they own a laptop or two but they still live in fear. Copywriters do more TV commercials than press ads but they are still blissfully unaware of the cost of a 20-sec spot over the network. Art directors may create on a computer instead of on paper today but their domain knowledge too is limited. You could call it focus but that to my mind is being charitable.

So the question I ask is, where are the Flintoffs of the advertising business? The problem to my mind is that the organisational structure of the advertising industry is dated. It's like the trusted Ambassador, good for the crowded roads of Kolkata in bumper-to-bumper traffic but not too relevant in other terrain. The need of the hour is a four-wheel, sports utility vehicle that can take the rough with the smooth. Rugged, yet agile and fast. Pleasant on the eye and rewarding to the driver.

The key is attitude

Agencies can be iconoclastic in their thinking and demeanour. They can come up with ideas that push the envelope, that are on the verge of being outrageous. Yet these same iconoclastic men and women are extremely conservative about running their own advertising agencies. It is also likely that they are so busy looking at opportunities for their clients and their brands that they do very little about their own self-development.

They seem to be so busy chasing their own tails that growth is limited to say the least. More business means more people of the same mould. More account men, more copywriters, and more specialists. More hierarchy. More confusion. Less speed of response. So what is the solution?

Enter the MBA

No, the MBA is not the solution. Heaven forbid! But let's just spend a minute understanding what the MBA learns and experiences while still learning. He is exposed to organisational behaviour, finance, production, marketing, systems and a whole range of subjects in 36 courses spread over two years. He has an overview of business. The new age ad executive must borrow from this model. He must be multi-faceted. He needs to understand new business and be capable of pitching for it. He should possess the skill of writing a line if it comes to the pinch and give a script idea should the need present itself with a clear understanding of what the brand needs and what that need will cost in media.

Are we asking for the moon? Yes, we are in the current scenario. We need a leaner, meaner agency. If Gargantuan Fred can lose 2-1/2 stone from his 17 stone 12 pounds original weight of July 2000, then why can't agencies cut their flab? Their clients innovate - they talk of global delivery models and build their originations to deliver them. Isn't it time agencies learned from clients? Let me repeat a few questions that C.K. Prahalad is fond of asking.

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